Darkness Within
by Akebo
Summary: As Sora fals into darkness, he is greeted by his darker half. Theme is 'Black' for the Sora 100 Oneshot Challange. Rated to be sure.


Darkness Within

_A KH One-Shot_

A/N: This is just some angst lurking in the corner of my mind. Sweeping out the cobwebs can reveal some lost plot bunnies. Or dust bunnies. O.o I hope you enjoy it! Thankees to my beta, BitterSweet-Neko.

Disclaimer: Kingodm Hearts belongs to Square Enix, Disney, Squaresoft, and Buena Vista Games. This fanfiction belongs to me.

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With a cheesy smile, Sora plunged the black Keyblade into his heart, the light discharging from his body. He could feel his heart tear away from him—Kairi's heart dancing along with it. Her heart re-entered her body, and Sora's heart faded into darkness. His body faded into sparkles.

Sora spiraled down into darkness as well, a black abyss that swelled against his body. Sora could _feel _each part of himself; his memory, his heart, being stripped away until all that was left was a confused and scared kid. He floated there, on the precipice of darkness, his back turned towards the light.

"Where…am I?" he asked aloud. "How did I get here…?"

He fell deeper into darkness.

"Where? Where am I? I don't like it here! I want to go back!"

_Back to where?_

Sora didn't register another's voice answer him. He hung there, alone. He felt like he had been adrift for years. Time seemed so slow. He might have been there for only a minute, teetering in the darkness.

After what could have been an hour, but felt like forever, he landed on hard ground. Before he was just floating there in nothingness, like drowning in dark water. Sora looked around him, his gaze only meeting black.

"Hello?"

He could feel a presence there. A dark presence that seemed almost overwhelming. He could feel its hunger, its lust for power and hearts. It made Sora shiver, as if he were blasted with ice. He felt like eyes were trained at him, watching him from within the darkness.

"Hello?" Sora asked again, trying to discern through the black, searching through nothing to find whoever—or _whatever—_was watching him.

He spent most of his time searching through the endless expanse of darkness before a voice called out to him.

_I've been waiting for you, So-ra. _

Sora turned around to see himself.

Except this Sora was different—yellow eyes that pierced through him like icy knives...voice like nails raking on a chalkboard, and a wide, ugly grin that made him seem maniacal. It was his grin that unsettled Sora the most. Cracked, yellow teeth shone through the dark Sora's black body, crooked and looking too-big for his face. It struck Sora with an odd sense of fear that was almost anxiousness. Like some part o him knew the creature, and was waiting for it to make its move.

Sora took a step back. But his evil double only stood there with the same grin, having made no move at all.

_I wonder…when this is all over. Who will come out on top? _His mouth didn't move, but the words still echoed in Sora's mind. The voice seemed like it was a cold manifestation of his thoughts, trying to work through his brain and _control _him.

_You? _His grin never shifted, even as those words bounded in Sora's skull.

_Or me? _Sora stumbled back,trying to get away from that lunatic's grin.

"W-who are you?"

_You. Who else?_

"But you can't be me…" Sora protested. "I'm me!"

_Oh, but I am. _The Anti-Sora replied. _I'm the darker side of you. _

"W-what do you want?" Sora nervously ventured, sighing in relief when the grin faded, leaving behind the creepy yellow eyes that watched his every move, as if studying him, and scrutinizing his every move the way a lion stalks down its prey.

_I wanted to meet you. _

"Why me?"

_To test you._

Sora furrowed his brow in confusion. "A test?" Was he expected to answer any questions? Or fight him?

_I want to see how strong you. To make sure I have no trouble. _

"No trouble in what?"

_I think we'll save answer for the right time. _

"What do you want from me?" Sora tried to yell, but his voice drifted away in the darkness, leaving only a scared whisper.

_You. _

In a second, the anti-Sora had his claws against Sora, pushing him back and making him fall to the ground, with the Anti-Sora looming over him. That grin that spoke of evil on his face, his breath coming out in excited puffs. His breath was putrid; it reminded Sora of things rotting, and dark, dank placed.

_And I will have you…_

Sora struggled weakly against the grip of his darker half; but the grip was too strong for him to move. "Get off of me!" he screamed, rearing up to kick the anti-Sora away from him. The heartless fell back and grinned wickedly.

Sora was up in a flash the moment the anti-version of him self sprung to attack. He dodged its claws and ran through the darkness, seemingly going nowhere, but still managing to escape the clutches of his darker half.

Finally his body gave out, and he fell down with a heave, panting there. He couldn't see his darker side anywhere, but he could still feel its eyes on him, still smell its putrid breath puffing against him. It sickened him, but he had no way of protecting himself.

He laid there for several minutes, listening to the sound of his breathless pants before they stopped and he was able to sit up, holding the stitch at his side. A quick glance around him told him that Anti-Sora wasn't here. But this was _his _world, and _he _could manipulate it as he saw fit. And Sora knew it was only a matter of time before the darker version caught up with him.

But Sora had to hope there was a way out. But his trustworthy hope didn't come. All that was there where his heart should be was this hollow space, where the only traces of emotion he could dredge were from his mind, not his heart. He knew he should _feel_ scared, knew he _should_ feel angry and scared. So he did. But it was only his mind telling him he had emotions, a poor substitute.

Besides, hoping that someone could save him was useless. He couldn't think of anyone who would come to save him.

He got up again, looking around to make sure he was safe before he dredged off in some direction, hoping it was the one opposite from the anti-him. In the darkness, everything seemed the same. There were no distinguishing places or objects that he could see. Just…black. Black and the demon that was stalking him.

But Sora trudged on regardless, the emotions in his head telling him to be hopeful and optimistic. He'd find a way out. Maybe someone would help him…

_Maybe someone will come? My, you have funny ideas. There's no one here except me and you…_

Sora turned around, gasping when he saw the anti-Sora, standing there with his evil grin. "I have to believe!" Apparently the Heartless found this funny, because he began to laugh—a high, cold, cruel laugh that made the hairs on the back of Sora's head up.

_Believe? What foolishness. There is nothing here but darkness! No one will come to save you. Give into it! Give into the darkness! _

Sora looked down hopelessly, weighing his options. He had tried running…Anti-Sora had caught up with him in a matter of minutes. He knew that fighting was useless. Anti-Sora was stronger than him.

Sora sighed, putting down his arms in defeat. Anti-Sora grinned wickedly, diving to claw at Sora, scratching and maiming the boy to get a hold at his heart and pull him down with him. His claws raked against the flesh, reaching into plunge an icy hand into his non-heart—a foothold to bring him down into the darkness—when he pulled back with a pained roar.

"Huh?" Sora asked. He looked quizzically at Anti-Sora, who was snarling and rearing back to take him to the darkness again. A piercing light shot through the darkness, pushing back Anti-Sora. The light wrapped around him and protected him. 'What is this?' he wondered, reaching out to touch it.

'_Sora!' _

"Kairi?"

The light reached out to him. He embraced it.

He could still hear the outrages of his Anti-version.

_Don't forget Sora: I am a part of you. You will go down to the darkness. _

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Well, it wasn't my best work, but it gets the job done. Hopefully you had a good time. I'd like to believe that I'm getting progressively better...

Ja Ne!

Akebo


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